Bullying refers to any aggressive behaviours seeking to harm or control others. A significant characteristic of bullying is the repeated abusive behaviour. So, for harassment to be considered bullying, it must have happened repeatedly or shown potential for repetitiveness. Also, it must show that power is not balanced between the perpetrator and the victim while occurring over an extended timeframe.
Cyberbullying refers to bullying that happens online or electronically. It comes through an electronic means of communication such as messaging online, texting, emails, social media, etc.
Examples of cyberbullying behaviour
According to an article on buy essay online, several online behaviours constitute cyberbullying when repeated over time and target a person or group of people. Some of these behaviours are:
Catfishing (deceive other people with fake profiles)
Who are the ones affected by cyberbullying?
According to a Google survey of teachers in 2018, cyberbullying was top of the list of online issues that children suffer from. The growth of social media and the advancement of technology today means that bullying is no longer restricted to school premises. Children are now getting bullied in their homes these days. The home is a new battleground between the perpetrator and victim of cyberbullying where the bully has direct and continuous access to the victim and has guaranteed anonymity.
Another study in 2019 showed that about 37% of children in America between the age of 12 and 17 had reported harassment or bullying over the internet through social media platforms. Worse still, a report by the National Crime Prevention Council claims that only about 10% of cyberbullying victims report the incident. When you put this into perspective, the 37% of children that reported cyberbullying is considerably low compared to what the number could be if they all reported.
Where does cyberbullying take place?
This happens on almost all social media platforms. Given that Facebook is the largest social media platform with about 3 billion active users, it is unsurprising that it is the platform reported to have the most number of bullies over the years, even though many teens are focusing on other platforms like Snapchat, Instagram, Twitter, etc.
Even though the age requirement to create an account on Facebook is 13, as of 2011, there were more than 7.5 million Facebook users below this age. Now in 2021, it is hard not to imagine how that number would have multiplied significantly in the last decade. It is a problem that these platforms do not enforce the age restriction. Many of these children are not emotionally and socially mature enough to handle cyberbullying. They also may not realize the consequences of some of the private messages they send to people or what they post on their platform. It also has to be said that many parents do not concern themselves with the sites their kids use and how.
Effects of cyberbullying
Sadly, cyberbullying has adverse effects on both the victims and the perpetrators.
Effects on victims
Emotional issues such as depression, anxiety, etc.
Poor concentration.
Behavioral issues.
Physical symptoms such as stomach pain and frequent headaches.
The difficulty of getting along with mates.
Effect on the perpetrator
Emotional issues.
Poor concentration
Behavioural issues.
Likelihood of hyper activism.
May result in alcohol or drug abuse.
How to stop or avoiding cyberbullying
It is impossible to completely stop or prevent cyberbullying because it would mean you do not have an online presence, and that is quite hard these days. However, there are certain things that you can do in your social media settings and changes you can make in your online behavior to reduce the possibility of experiencing cyberbullying:
Set your social media profiles to private.
Monitor privacy settings and update regularly.
Do not follow people who are not your friends.
Decline messages or requests from people you do not know on social media.
Never give out your social media passwords.
Do not allow other people to gain access to your private photos and profiles.
Be educated about cyberbullying and its negative impact, and educate other people too.
Report cyberbullying when you see one.
Conclusion
Cyberbullying has become commonplace in the online world today, especially on social media platforms. It is a problem that everyone needs to tackle head-on because of the negative impacts on the victims, especially teens, who are not emotionally and socially mature enough to handle such bullies. However, it is also worth noting that it has several negative impacts on the bullies, and not many people would take its effects.
Author Bio
His name is Samuel Matthews. He is 33 years old and lives in Manchester. He worked at an essay writing service and as a journalist and wrote his own detective story. He loves to learn something new and meet different people. His hobbies are travel, sports, and drumming.
Paul Balo is the founder of TechBooky and a highly skilled wireless communications professional with a strong background in cloud computing, offering extensive experience in designing, implementing, and managing wireless communication systems.
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